The economic dimension

We often speak of migrants in terms of the polemics spurred by the new Italian government, counting heads, or maybe bodies, comparing quotas, percentages, and precedents, following up stories of deaths at sea and the hardship suffered in places like Libya. But we do not consider the economic dimension of migration as it impinges on us as a country. Certainly, the greater part of those who migrate to Malta would be doing so to better their economic position. Seen from their own perspective, they are embarking on this arduous journey to provide a better future for their families, away from the poverty they come from.

But we, on our part, have to see this issue from our own perspective. Let us for a moment depart from the usual arguments that are made and focus on something that is becoming clearer and clearer as we go along.

There is a correlation between the average wages of the incoming migrants and those of the Maltese. It has been said many times that one reason why the Maltese economy has grown these past years has been because wages have been kept low. Malta, along with Germany, if fact, has kept its wages as low as possible or, rather, has kept them from

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increasing as much as possible. For some time we thought that this was because the Maltese workers and the trade unions acted responsibly and did not demand huge wage increases. But now a new factor has come in: wages have been kept low because of the massive increase in migrants, whether boat people or not, whether from EU countries or not. They accept lower wages than the Maltese and so get jobs which in their own countries they do not have. We can see this in the hospitality sector and in retail. And so we come to a newer variant, one which fills us with foreboding: we have already seen how foreigners have displaced Maltese waiters and the like. We used to say that the Maltese no longer wanted to be waiters (which may not be true at all). But now we can see this practice of doing away with Maltese worker not just in hotels and restaurants, but also in other areas, specifically construction.

Most of the migrants who come to our shores, especially, but not exclusively, the boat people, bring no skills but can be taught rudimentary skills which make them useful in construction. There seems to be a trend now, according to word on the street, of constructors choosing to employ migrants who come at a pittance and who are used to doing all the hard work which used to be done by Maltese workers. We know that the Maltese workers have not remained unemployed, for the statistics tell us we are enjoying the lowest rate of unemployment in decades.

But that is not the whole story. For while the bosses are kept happy because their unit costs are kept down, the Maltese proletariat is kept down, and all relativities are kept down too.

So, although this is not overtly stated and, on the contrary, is denied, the reality is that it suits some sectors of the economy if native lowskilled workers continue working for peanuts. And if they do not want to work under these conditions, there are always the migrants who will do so.

Hence, it may not be all true that our country is against migration. At the end of the day, migration has its benefits. Who certainly does not benefit is the Maltese proletariat working on a minimum wage or less and those, obviously, who have seen their social benefits and pensions kept as low as possible.

Seeing the economy grow is a wonderful thing, but not if it is being done at your expense.